JOHN PIPER, now living a retired life in Freeport, was
born Feb. 7, 1832, in Washington County, Maryland, at the place
where, thirty years later, the great battle of Antietam was fought.
His parents were Jacob and Anna (Kitzmiller) Piper, both of Washington
County, and his grandfather, Daniel Piper, was born February
4, 1780, and died March 3, 1857. He was a farmer and spent all
of his life in the above county. His wife, whose maiden name
was Brown, was born September 2, 1774, and died July 8, 1851.
Grandmother Kitzmiller was born January 23, 1777, and died July
30, 1860.

May 15, 1845, Jacob Piper started for the west by wagon
train, in a pasty composed of twenty-one persons, eleven of whom
are now living, as follows : Mrs. Henry Dovenberger, Forreston,
Illinois; John Dovenberger, Forreston; D. J. Piper, Brookville
Township, Ogle County, Illinois; Elizabeth Shearer (now married),
Maryland Township, Ogle County; Mrs. August Bergman, Freeport;
Mrs. D. D. Iler, Ridott Village; Sarah Kitzmiller, Ridott; John
Piper, subject of sketch; Elizabeth A. Trime, Le Grande, Iowa;
Jacob W. Piper, Le Grande, Iowa; J. M. Piper, county Superintendent
of Schools of Ogle County, Illinois. Those deceased are: Jacob
Piper and wife; Anna Piper; Henry Shearer and wife; Mrs. Shearer;
Jacob Dovenber and wife ; Henry Dovenberger; Mrs. Geo. Dowel;
Samuel Fiper (soldier in Union Army); John Kitzmiller (drafted
in the war of 1812). Only two of the above died under seventy-five
years of age and the oldest was ninety-one. None now living are
under fifty-five.

Jacob Piper located on a farm in Ogle County, Illinois,
where he died, August 1897, at the age ninety-one years, twenty-four
days, his wife having preceded him November 20, 1894, at the
age of eighty-three years, nine months. They had six children,
five of whom are now living, as follows : Daniel, proprietor
of a farm and nursery in Forreston, Illinois; John, subject of
sketch; Elizabeth A., widow of T. II. Trine, lives in Le Grande,
Iowa; Joseph M., County Superintendent of Schools of Ogle County,
Illinois. Samuel, died in the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee,
in 1862, while in the army; and Jacob, a minister in the Christian
Church at Le Grande, Iowa. All were given good educations, some
at Mt. Morris, Illinois, some at Ann Arbor, Mich., and others
at Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

John Piper began life as a farmer in Ridott Township, Stephenson
County, also working at the carpenter's trade in Ogle County.
While there, on April 6, 1854, he married Mary Myers, daughter
of Jacob Myers who came west in 1837 and settled on a farm in
Ogle County, Illinois, where he died in 1876, aged 75 years.
Mrs. Piper was born in Washington County, Maryland, May 2, 1833,
and died June 16, 1867, leaving six children, as follows : William
H., married Margaret Allen, and is in the . well-drilling and
windmill and machine business in Ogle County; Elizabeth Ann,
died at the age of ten years; Emma E., wife of S. P. Allen, a
hardware merchant, lives in Ogle County; Samuel F., now in Byron,
Illinois, "Jack of all trades " and a good carpenter,
married Ida Jones; Lydia J., wife of John D. Williams, farmer,
lives in Ogle County; and Mary, wife of S. E. Stine, a carpenter,
lives in Lena, Illinois.

September 28, 1868, Mr. Piper married Eleanor Humphreys
of Marion, Lynn County, Iowa. She was born May 14, 1843, and
is the daughter of David and Jane (Jones) Humphreys, both of
Montgomeryshire, England. They came to America in 1850, locating
for a time in Utica, New York, and from there removed to Racine,
Wisconsin, where he worked in a tannery, later moved to Winnebago
County, Illinois, and from there went to a farm in Lynn County,
Iowa. He now resides in Buchanan County, Iowa, at the advanced
age of eightytwo years. His wife died in February, 1897, aged
eighty-two years. By his second wife Mr. Piper has four children:
Anna M., residing with her parents; David J., married Lizzie
Grove and lives on his father's farm in Ridott Township; Mertie
A., died at the age of three years; and Bessie E., lives with
her parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Piper are members of the Christian Church.
After his first marriage Mr. Piper remained in Ogle County two
years, then purchased a farm in Ridott Township, Stephenson County,
which he improved, built his house and other buildings, and remained
there until 1893 when he moved to Freeport.

Mr. Piper, who is one of the prominent and wealthy citizens
of Freeport, made his start in life with an old corn sheller,
and has shelled over one million bushels of corn. He now owns
over six hundred acres of land in the counties of Lynn, Iowa,
and Ogle and Stephenson, Illinois; also his beautiful residence
which he built at 35 Jefferson street, in the edge of Freeport,
where he lives retired.

Mr. Piper was school director for twenty years and Road
Commissioner eight years. He is a Democrat in politics.